5 Mins Read
We all love to decorate our homes with festive plants during the holiday season, but most of the time, their time in the spotlight ends pretty quickly and they up being tossed out once the new year rolls in. This year, why not give your indoor plant decorations life beyond the holidays? Here are 10 beautiful plants to deck your home for some Christmas cheer that can be kept all year round.
1. Poinsettias
Poinsettias are of course the most popular Christmas houseplant. Their pointed red flowers are well known for appearing on tables and windowsills everywhere during the festive season, but they are in fact tropical plants that grow best in direct sunlight and humid temperatures – making them perfect for our climate, all year round.
2. Amaryllis
A less well known Christmas plant is amaryllis, a bell-shaped red bloomer. They appear more and more often during the winter months, but they again are tropical plants that love relatively warm temperatures and humid climates, so they can totally be kept beyond the holidays.
3. Rosemary
If you don’t have room for a large plant, why not a potted herb? Not only is rosemary a total Christmas charmer and can be used in so many festive recipes, their sweet-smelling fragrant sprigs will no doubt come in handy all the time, regardless of season.
4. Christmas Cactus
The succulent trend isn’t confined to the winter or summer months. This popular houseplant is called the Christmas cactus because of its beautiful leaf-like pads and white, pink and red flowers that warm up your home. Originally from the rainforests of southern Brazil, these succulents will remain green for most of the year. Some say they can live for as long as 30 years.
5. Paperwhites
These fragrant tall flowers grow all year round, and keeping them is as simple as just adding water. Their bulbs will look great under some Christmas mood lighting, but will still shine bright in your home come the spring season, not to mention they’re perfect for Chinese New Year.
6. Norfolk Island Pine
Norfolk Island Pine trees are an excellent selection for the holiday season- they look like a mini version of the Christmas fir but they are actually tropical plants that require humidity and warmth to flourish. They love to sit in bright indirect sunlight, and will totally spruce up your home no matter what time of the year it is.
7. Winter Cherries
Winter cherries are known for their tomato-looking berries that appear around the Christmas season and which look super festive nestled in their green leaves. But don’t throw them out once these berries disappear. In the summer, the plant blooms small white flowers. Do be careful though if you have small children and pets at home- winter cherries are toxic.
8. Christmasberry
Christmasberry grows in shrubs, and are usually found along outdoor coastlines but can be kept indoors in a pot. They earned the name of being the berry of the festive season because it yields fruits that are red and plump. But they also do very well once winter is over. Christmas berries love sunlight, warm temperatures and humidity – perfect for our climate – and their dark glossy leaves will produce white star-shaped flowers in the summer.
9. Pothos Ivy
Want to ditch the traditional? What better way to do so than to add one of the most low-maintenance houseplants there is out there to your home collection? Hang this plant and their trailing stems up in a dangly basket, and they’ll look great with or without your (eco-friendly D-I-Y) Christmas decorations. Bonus: they purify the air by absorbing toxins in the atmosphere!
10. Areca Palm
Last but not least, areca palms are a tropical favourite. Why bow down to conventional wintery plants when we have warm temperatures for most of the year? In addition to needing very little care, they come in all sizes from big to small, so there is no doubt one suitable for everyone.
Lead image courtesy of West Coast Gardens.
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